Have you ever looked up in Trinity's nave and noticed that  t he second story east chancel windows are "boarded up" ?  This couldn't be part of architect Charles F. Schweinfurth's vision for Trinity Cathedral, considered by many to be his "masterpiece."

What is missing are the organ pipes that once occupied that space. There were thousands of them when Trinity's organ was located in the chancel at the front of the nave. In 1977, when Trinity

Photo:Jennie Jones

Cathedral purchased its magnificent Flentrop organ, renowned for its ability to play Baroque-era music, its size required that it be installed at the rear of the nave, above the Euclid Avenue entrance. The original chancel organ and its pipes were removed, and the east chancel windows boarded up.

Fast forward to early 2011 when an historic Aeolian-Skinner organ was gifted to Trinity. Three years later, the Diocese of Ohio donated pipes from the Skinner organ at the now-demolished Church of the Transfiguration to the Cathedral. Trinity's Vestry placed these gifts in storage with the hope that funds might eventually become available to restore and install them in the Cathedral's chancel. Such an instrument would allow for closer integration of liturgy and music, remove the necessity for distracting and logistically awkward shifts in locations by choirs and performers, and enable more direct, intuitive coordination between worship and music leaders.

It appears that this day may be very close at hand!